Push and Pull
by fourseasonsfourloves
Summary: Set during Book One: The Siege of the North. Katara and Zuko are fighting in the Spirit Oasis, him to capture Aang and her to protect him. But their fight angers two very powerful spirits who live in the Spirit Oasis; what happens when Tui and La pull Zuko and Katara into the Spirit World? Can they survive as two enemies, or will they find themselves changing into something more?
1. Prologue

**Push and Pull**

 _Prologue_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Katara's POV**

He'd been reaching for Aang when it all went wrong.

Katara had pulled water from the Spirit Pond and had sent it forward in a blast to knock Zuko away from him. She'd triumphed when she saw that he was moving too slowly, and she knew he wouldn't be able to block it. She'd expected him to go flying, and was already pulling more water to her so she could encase him in a frozen prison. But the water was no longer under her control. The water she'd pushed at Zuko didn't strike him—no, it didn't even seem to touch him. It flew right past him, and she watched with open-mouthed surprise when it circled around him and crashed into his side, pushing him straight into waters of the Spirit Pond.

She moved, automatically reaching towards him in surprise, the water she'd bended to imprison him forgotten. The pond swallowed Zuko into its depths, but the water had left Aang alone and he sat meditating, his eyes and tattoos glowing a searing blue. She'd managed a single step before the water came for her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a rush of water come for her and raised her arms to fight it off, but the water caught her arms and _pulled_. Katara saw two large waves reach out to envelop her as she fell, and before they crashed over her, she cried out.

"Aang!"

* * *

Happy Zutara Week 2015! (even though this story has nothing to do with that...)

Now, I haven't finished Legend of Korra yet (it's just not the same as ATLA...), but I know there's stuff about Spirit Portals in there. The Spirit Oasis wasn't supposed to be one (I think) and they're all supposed to be closed anyway during ATLA, but I made sure that the situation above still works! I'll explain next chapter, or as the story continues.

Reviews would be appreciated, though I know I haven't given you much at all to review, haha. The story has to start somewhere, right?


	2. One

**Push and Pull**

 _Awakening_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Katara's POV**

She woke up floating on the water.

Katara opened her eyes and gasped, reeling back into the cool, murky water, splashing and struggling to her feet. She whirled around, her eyes falling on the unfamiliar, swamp like surroundings with a small measure of panic. Where in the world was she?

The trees were the first things she noticed: enormous, veiny things that stood rooted in the water, dotting the mystical swamp. Even standing inside the water, she could smell them, the wet, pungent scent of vegetation rolling off the tree bark. The trunks of the trees had twisted themselves in impossible ways as they grew; their branches were shaped similarly, warped with dips and bends as they reached across the sky. She could hear the quiet chirps of birds somewhere near the top, and the rapid flutter of wings as they flew from one branch to another. Thick and wiry roots peeked out of the water near the bottom, only to reach down deep into the wet earth underwater. Long and heavy foliage hung down from the branches above her head, waving in the wind and dripping water down into the swamp.

A drop fell on Katara's cheek and she jerked back in surprise, her feet sinking into the earth underwater as she stepped back. She wiped the drop away and looked down at the water that swirled around her knees. The swamp was not deep; she could see the algae and mud that covered the bottom and turned the water into a green-ish color. Wisps of fog floated over the water and through the trees, giving her an eerie feel. Weak light filtered through the veil of clouds that hid the sky, striking the swamp with dim, hazy light.

Her eyes caught sight of a small wooden platform that stood raised above the water a few meters away from her. She moved towards the dry landing automatically, gazing up at the curved wooden arch that stood on it. She couldn't help thinking that the platform looked familiar somehow, though she knew she'd never been in a place like this before. Katara dragged herself through the water, so focused on reaching the platform and remembering where she'd seen it before that she almost didn't see a body floating on the water to the side of it.

"Zuko!" Katara scrambled to the landing and pulled herself onto it, her dress and shoes dripping water. She ran to the edge of the platform and looked over at his still body, his eyes closed as he drifted on the water. He was too far for her to reach. She called out to him again. "Zuko!"

He didn't move. Katara lifted her arms and began to push and pull the water, lulling Zuko closer until she could hook her arms under his shoulders and drag him onto the platform. He was heavier than she thought, and she bumped his body against the side of the landing a few times, but she managed to pull him on next to her. She dropped to her knees and looked at him.

He was soaking wet like she was, but unlike her he was shivering. Small cuts marked his pale skin: three scratches above his only eyebrow, a small cut and bruise near the corner of his eye, a cut across the bridge of his nose, and two slashes pulling up the right corner of his lip. An ugly looking burn stuck out near his left jaw.

 _I didn't give him those, did I?_ Katara thought, trying to remember what he'd looked like before they'd started fighting. She hadn't been paying attention, too distracted by his sudden appearance and how he always managed to find them. _Surely I didn't burn him._

She reached out to him without thinking, pulling water from the swamp to envelop her hand, and pressed her fingers gently against the cuts on his forehead. She'd barely begun healing him when he jolted awake, reaching out to catch her wrist before his eyes had even fully opened. She lurched back, startled, but his hand on her wrist only tightened painfully, and the water she'd bended around her hand dropped to ground.

"What happened?" Zuko demanded, his voice rough. He pushed her hand away, and she fell back on her hands as he scrambled to his feet. He took in his surroundings quickly, and whirled around to face her, a look of outrage on his face. "Where are we?" he spat down at her. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I didn't bring you here," she snapped, and then sighed, willing herself to calm down. There would be no use in yelling back at him. "I don't where we are. I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"You pushed me into the pond," he recalled suddenly, his tone accusatory. "I don't remember anything after that. What happened? Why am I here?"

"I don't know," Katara pushed herself up to her feet and shrugged. "I got pulled into the pond too. And I didn't push you in."

"Don't lie to me. I saw you bending the water."

Katara struggled to keep her temper. Something about his voice always made it seem like he was yelling, even when he wasn't. The fact that they'd been hurling fire and water at each other a little while back didn't help. She tried not to let that irritate her, since she had a feeling they'd have to stick together.

"I didn't push you in," Katara began, patiently. "I _did_ bend water at you, but I was just trying to knock you backward, away from Aang. Something—" she hesitated, suddenly unsure, "—took over the water and pushed you in. It pulled me in the water too."

She shivered as she remembered how easily her bending had been overpowered. Something had taken control of the water, something powerful enough that it could control several pockets of water at the same time, and all before she'd even had time to react. All it had done was push and pull them into the Spirit Pond, but a worrisome thought nagged at the back of her head: _What if it had hurt Aang?_

"We have to get out of here," Katara proclaimed decisively, and looked up at Zuko. He was staring off somewhere in the distance, his golden eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to be paying attention to her.

"I think Aang could be in trouble," she continued, stepping closer, though why she thought he'd care she didn't know. "He's still in the Spirit World so his body—" she broke off abruptly and gasped as realization hit.

Zuko started at her gasp and finally looked back at her. "What?"

"I think we're in the Spirit World," she breathed, and he looked at her with furrowed brows. Katara explained to him in a rush, her voice growing louder as she grew more agitated. "Princess Yue told me that the Spirit Oasis was the most spiritual place in the North Pole! I bet when we fell in, we crossed over. And Aang was able to cross over so easily before too, ugh, I should've realized sooner—"

"We can't be in the Spirit World," he interrupted shortly. "I studied it when I started hunting the Avatar. It's supposed to take years of meditation and enlightenment to be able to get there. We wouldn't have been able to cross over."

"I don't know, but… I think something wanted us to come here." Katara frowned, and looked out across the eerie swamp. It had grown strangely quiet, the birds and water still and silent, as if the whole swamp was listening to them. "A little while ago we visited a village where people had been kidnapped by an angry spirit. My brother got taken too, and Aang had to cross over into the Spirit World to bring them all back. I bet a spirit brought us here too."

"Why would it want us?" Zuko demanded.

She shrugged helplessly. How was she supposed to know? "I guess we angered it."

"How?" When he saw that she was about to shrug again, he shook his head, resigned. "Never mind. What do we do now?"

Katara was about to shrug again, just to spite him, but then her face lit up. "Aang!" Of course!

"What?" He sounded frustrated, but she brushed it off.

"Aang is here in the Spirit World with us," she explained quickly. "He crossed over just before you showed up. We just have to find him, and I bet he'll know how to get us out."

"And if we can't find him?" Zuko challenged, gesturing to the trees and water, the swamp's inhabitants and landscape as foreign and unknown to them as them working together was. "Or if you're wrong and he can't help us?"

Katara was losing her patience. She glared up at him and crossed her arms. "Then we find the spirit who brought us here and convince it to send us back or we're stuck here forever."

He glowered back at her for a moment before nodding briskly. "Fine. Let's find the Avatar." Zuko turned back to where he'd been looking before she'd interrupted him, his golden eyes blazing. "And I know where to start looking."

Katara leaned closer and followed his line of sight, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the figure sitting underneath a stone arch in the distance. He was dressed in the attire of a sage, with a brown shawl draped over his body and a string of what looked like flowers handing from his neck. He was deep in meditation, sitting as still as the stones around him. And he was a monkey.

* * *

lolololol monkey sage cracked me up in the series, so I had to bring him back.

Phew. I figured I should hurry up and update the next chapter since my prologue was so skimpy. Thank you so much to those who followed and the beautiful person who wrote the first review! **Avatar Roxas** , I hope I didn't keep you waiting long!

I'll explain how the Spirit Oasis-Spirit World transport system works. In _Escape from the Spirit World_ , a canon online game thing set between the events of Book Two and Book Three, Aang meets his past lives and meets Avatar Kuruk (the coolio waterbender avatar). He tells Aang about how he was going to marry his lover at the Spirit Oasis, but Koh the meanie Facestealer pulled her in and took her off into the Spirit World, body and all. (Avatar Kuruk is the one who tried to kill Koh, and the pretty lady's face Koh stole was Kuruk's lover's.) So spirits dragging Zuko and Katara in through the Spirit Oasis can probably happen. Maybe.

 **Reviews are much appreciated!**


	3. Two

**Push and Pull**

 _The Search_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Katara's POV**

"He's… a monkey."

"Yes."

"…Is he meditating?"

"He's probably a spirit or an enlightened sage."

"…Alright."

"Let's go." Zuko moved to step into the cloudy green water surrounding the platform.

"Wait!" Katara said quickly, and he paused, turning slightly to face her. Her eyes flickered up to the cuts on his face. They weren't deep and had already started to scab over, but they were a striking red and stood out harshly against the paleness of his skin."I can heal you. You should take care of those cuts before they get infected."

He flinched back, startled as she reached out to his face. His golden eyes met her blue ones and she was surprised at the bewilderment she saw in them.

Katara pulled back. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said mildly. "I just want to heal them."

"I don't need your help," he grunted, and looked swiftly away, starting for the water again. Katara caught his arm, noting the cool dampness of his sleeve, and stopped him.

"You were in the swamp water," she insisted, and drifted closer, reaching up to his face again. "They might get infected. You should take care of them before anything happens."

He caught her wrist, just like before, and his hand was no gentler this time. "Don't touch me," he said sternly, and she wriggled her hand in his tight grip. Zuko dropped her hand and stepped into the water before she could protest any further.

Katara watched him go and crossly swallowed back her peacemaking offer to pull the water from his clothes and dry him off. _Fine_. Katara huffed and the proceeded to pull the water out from her own clothes. The water fell with a splash on the wood as she followed Zuko into the murky swamp. It felt cooler than before, though Katara knew that it was only her skin playing tricks on her, and her feet sank gracelessly deeper into mud with every step. Katara knew Zuko was feeling similarly, as he stumbled now and again when the mud made his feet stick to the ground, but he didn't show it. He was faster than she was, taking long strides with his taller legs, and Katara had to work to keep up to his pace. They trudged along silently through the swamp for a minute, hearing only the birds in the sky and their own breath, before a thought occurred to Katara.

"I wonder how much time we have before it grows dark," she mused to herself, looking up at the orange light that filtered through the cloudy skies. It'd been night when they'd fallen into the pond, but she didn't know how many hours had passed before they'd woken up. She wasn't sure why she'd even been asleep in the first place. Did travelling to the Spirit World do that to you? Or was it the spirit who'd brought them here who'd done that?

"It's just past sunrise," Zuko's voice came from ahead of her and she peered at the back of his head suspiciously. Maybe she'd gotten it wrong. Maybe Zuko had been the one who'd brought them here.

"How do you know that?"

"I can just tell."

Katara gritted her teeth, and immediately knew that he wasn't the one responsible. He was too annoying to be devious. She recalled the pirates and the waterbending scroll incident and tried not to smirk at the memory. Zuko had consorted with pirates, going as far as to think he'd had the upper hand, and then in the end watched as his own ship was commandeered. And besides, she'd seen the water pulling them in, and Zuko was definitely not a waterbender. _Definitely not devious, though the trick with my mother's necklace was mean. I still don't know how he got that..._

They reached the enormous tree root where the monkey sage sat after a few minutes of trudging through the swamp water. Though they'd made a fair bit of noise splashing through the water, the sage didn't seem to notice. He sat with his eyes closed and his back straight, looking impressively occupied with the task of humming, "Om." He ignored them as they climbed the tree root and stood before him. Katara thought that the white fur covering his body looked remarkably clean for someone who lived in a swamp.

"Excuse me—" She began politely, and sighed when Zuko broke in.

"Have you seen a young bald monk around here?" he rasped, glowering down at the sage as if he could read the answer on his face.

"Go," the sage replied somberly, his voice laced with a distinct accent, "away."

"We—" Determined.

"Om."

"Look—" Perplexed.

"Om."

"But—" Frustrated.

" _Om_."

Here Zuko looked outright offended, and Katara stepped in when she saw him open his mouth with a look of outrage on his face. She didn't need him to insult the monkey sage and ruin their chance to find Aang.

"We can see that you're busy," she cut in quickly, shooting Zuko a be-quiet look, "and we're sorry to bother you, but we really need your help."

The sage didn't move from his spot, or open his eyes, but he didn't cut her off with an indignant "Om" either, so she took it as a good sign.

"Did a boy with blue tattoos pass by here a few hours ago?" she continued, ignoring the affronted look Zuko had on his face. "Do you know where he went?"

The monkey sage sighed heavily, a dramatic gesture that made Zuko even angrier. "He ran off somewhere in that direction." He tilted his head slightly to his left, gesturing somewhere deeper into the trees, and settled back, resuming his chant.

"Why did you answer her and not me?" Zuko demanded, and Katara grabbed his arm, tugging him away from the sage with a cheerful, "Thank you very much!"

Zuko jerked his arm back immediately, but Katara ignored him, eagerly starting off in the direction Aang had gone. There was nothing there that told her that Aang had ever ventured this way, but she figured that the sage would have told her if he'd known anything more. She wasn't sure if the monkey had been a spirit or not, but she thought that if they'd stayed any longer, Zuko would've surely picked a fight with him, regardless of who he was.

This time, Katara led the way through the swamp, and Zuko trailed behind her, muttering something she probably didn't want to hear. They didn't get very far before she heard Zuko yell out in surprise behind her. Katara turned, half hoping it was Aang, and half ready to bend a wave of water at whatever had startled Zuko. She was disappointed when she saw that it wasn't Aang, but soon recognized the familiar face.

"Hei Bai!"

The enormous panda bear spirit gave a quiet rumble at her exclamation, and Katara marveled at his size. She hadn't seen the black and white spirit in his docile form back at the village, and only knew what he looked like from the statue of him that Aang had taken them to after the whole ordeal was over. Hei Bai was nearly a third of the size of Appa, but she knew that he could grow even larger if he turned into hus other form. He looked at her as if he recognized her, peering around Zuko, who was looking at her incredulously.

"Do you know this thing?"

"He's not a thing," Katara scolded him, and slowly stepped around him to smile hesitantly up at the spirit. "This is Hei Bai. He's a spirit that guards a forest back in our world. He was the one who took Sokka and some others into the Spirit World before, but that was only because he was angry that his forest had been destroyed." She glanced at Zuko. "He won't hurt us."

Zuko looked unconvinced, but nodded anyway, casting suspicious golden eyes on the spirit.

Katara turned back to Hei Bai. "Have you seen Aang? He came into the Spirit World a few hours ago, and we're trying to find him."

The panda bear made a small noise and slowly dropped down onto his knees; Katara had been around Appa long enough to know what that meant. Her face broke out into a wide smile and she ran toward the bear, carefully climbing onto his back. Katara thanked her lucky stars that the first spirit they'd met in this strange world was a familiar and helpful one.

"He knows where Aang is! Come on, Zuko, he'll take us to him."

Zuko looked at Hei Bai, who grumbled at being kept waiting, and then at Katara, who nodded encouragingly. With a resigned look, he walked over and slowly pulled himself up behind Katara. As soon as Zuko was on, Hei Bai took off in a run, and Katara and Zuko nearly fell off his back. Katara regained her balance easily, catching herself on Zuko's chest, but Zuko had to grab for Katara's shoulders and pull himself back up with a grunt.

"Oh no," Katara said as she felt Hei Bai slowly pick up speed, and twisted her hands tightly into his fur. She vaguely remembered how fast Hei Bai had run off with Sokka into the forest the last time they'd met. Even Aang hadn't been able to catch up with them on his glider. "You'd better hold on, Zuko."

Zuko barely had time to put his hands on her waist before they were flying through the swamp. The enormous trees around them turned into a blur as Hei Bai raced past them, and the water from the swamp splashed against their legs in a constant stream. It became harder to breathe as the speed pushed the pungent air at her face ferociously, and Katara's face burned against the wind. It whistled in their ears, and made their eyes water, but Katara barely noticed any of this.

She'd hugged Aang more times than she could count and felt his hands on her waist, but she'd never felt like this before. Her heart hadn't pounded, and her cheeks hadn't flushed, and her thoughts definitely hadn't lingered on the feel of his hands on her waist.

"I don't understand this place," Zuko muttered behind her, and ducked his head as Katara's flying braid threatened to hit him in the face. His voice was startlingly close to her frame as he hid his face somewhere near the nape of her neck.

Katara didn't understand why _she_ was suddenly so flustered. What was wrong with her? Was it the sound of his voice, low and rough by her ears? Or was it the way the heat from his hands seeped through the fabric of her tunic and touched the skin of her waist? His hands were warmer than she expected. _Firebender hands_ , she thought, and that was enough to her snap her out of her moment of lunacy.

She tried to distract herself.

"I hope your forest has been growing well," she murmured to Hei Bai, and tried not to pull too hard on the fur she was gripping in her hands. He wasn't as furry as Appa and his coat felt somewhat oilier than Appa's, but the thicker outer-coat with a softer inner-coat was familiar to her.

Hei Bai rumbled lightly under her as he flew through the swamp, racing onto a strip of earth that was elevated above the swamp waters and took them upward and out of the swamp. She squinted into the opening that he led them to, and saw that the path lead onto the edge of a cliff. Huge boulders of earth stood floating in a long path at the edge, leading to a gigantic gnarled tree that stood on one of the tall rock formations that dotted the valley. The tree was peculiar, with thick roots that extended into the sky, rather than into the ground. A small pool of water stood somewhere off to the side, and at the base of the tree was an ominous-looking cave, a wide opening that seemed to lead deep into the ground. Hei Bai headed right for it.

"Are you sure he's taking us to Aang and not to our deaths?" Zuko's voice called out from behind her.

"I'm positive," Katara replied, but didn't sound so sure. She couldn't see any trace of light inside of the cave, and worried.

Hei Bai slowed his pace when he reached the edge of the cliff, but leaped onto the floating boulders without hesitation, following the path of rocks until he reached the rock formation the tree stood on. He came to a stop a few meters away from the cave and Zuko slid off of him easily, Katara following soon behind.

"Thank you," Katara told Hei Bai graciously, and shot Zuko a dirty look when he didn't move to thank the black and white spirit. "Aren't you going to at least say thank you?"

Zuko was already moving toward the cave. "I'll say thank you once we find the Avatar."

"Sorry," Katara mumbled to the panda bear. "He's kind of a jerk." Hei Bai rumbled easily, and Katara stroked his fur gratefully before starting to walk to where Zuko was standing in front of the cave. She paused when she heard a soft chattering coming from somewhere to her left. She turned and spotted the back of what looked like a small monkey sitting near the small pond, its tail curled strikingly. Its fur was a light brown, soft-looking but covered in dirt. She briefly wondered if it was a spirit.

"What is that?" Katara murmured, gazing at it curiously, and Zuko turned to glance at the monkey.

"A curly tailed blue nose," he said dismissively, and started to turn towards the cave. He whirled back around when Katara shrieked.

"What is that?" Zuko yelled in horror as he caught sight of what had made her scream: the monkey had turned around to face them, revealing a smooth and entirely blank space where its face should've been.

"A curly tailed blue nose," Katara couldn't help sarcastically screeching back, trying to mask her terror with attitude. _What was this place?_

The monkey seemed startled, and swiftly leaped away until it disappeared behind the gigantic tree. Katara watched it go and cast her wide eyes on Zuko.

"Something tells me that we probably shouldn't go in there," she said, and swore she heard Zuko give a small, breathless chuckle. He opened his mouth to reply back and turned to face the cave, but snapped it shut when his eyes fell on the opening. Katara followed his gaze and immediately reached for the small pool of water that stood off to the side. She pulled a stream of water closer and prepared to fight; out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zuko do the same. He exhaled sharply, a burst of steam flowing from his nostrils as he shifted into a firebending stance.

A dark figure rapidly approached from inside the cave.

* * *

Dun dun DUN. Jk you probably already know who it is. Who else would be inside Koh's lair?

I had such a hard time writing this chapter because 1. it just wasn't that interesting, 2. i hate describing setting _so much_ fml 3. Zuko's no fun to write b/c it's still early on in the series, so he's still a little shit, and 4. keeping these babies in character is hard :/ please forgive any out of character behaviour!

I noticed during The Siege of the North episodes that there was no day or night in the Spirit World even though the mortal world had them (I assume it's because the Spirit World no longer has a moon spirit/maybe a sun spirit), so there will be no night times in my story, though there will be sleepy times! I'm looking forward to those… *rubs hands maniacally* Zuko can still tell when the sun is up or down back in the mortal world though because he feels it when the strength of his bending shifts. Same goes for Katara and the moon.

HUGE shout out to **faloodahloodle** on tumblr for kindly letting me use her AMAZING art as the cover for this story (I saw her art piece and immediately knew that it was the only one I wanted even though it was still in a doodle form and I seriously just would've left the cover blank if she'd said no b/c I couldn't bear to have any other but omg she said YES). Seriously though, I creeped through all her Zutara art on her tumblr AND deviant art AND side blog and this lady is too talented for life. Definitely go check her out!

I didn't have time to edit this, so let me know if you find any glaring mistakes and I'll fix them (lol, only on chapter three and I'm already getting lazy). **As always, reviews are much appreciated!**


	4. Three

**Push and Pull**

 _The Find_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Zuko's POV**

"Aang!"

Zuko watched as Katara cried out in relief and ran towards the airbender, the stream of water she'd bended splashing to the ground, forgotten.

The Avatar was rushing out of the cave purposefully, but skidded to a stop just outside of it at the sound of his name, stirring up a cloud of dirt. "Katara?" he asked, surprised, but elated as she wrapped him in a hug. "What are you—ah!" He broke off with a startled yelp as he caught sight of Zuko over her shoulder, jumping out of her arms. "Zuko!"

 _Why does this kid never look at me like he hates me?_ Zuko thought to himself, not for the first time. He knew that the Avatar _should_ , especially with all the trouble he'd caused them, but somehow the young monk never looked at him as the enemy, even when his friends did.

"He's with us," Katara assured the boy quickly, and shot a warning look back at Zuko. "And he won't hurt us."

Zuko scowled at her. He'd noticed that she'd gotten a lot more annoying than the last time he'd managed to find their little group, and blamed her recent waterbending instruction for it. She'd surprised him with the intensity and technique she'd shown with her attacks back in the oasis, and he'd been struggling against her strength under the moon when they'd fallen into the pond. He still wasn't sure he entirely believed that she hadn't brought him here, especially since she'd been so familiar with the panda bear spirit. But she'd wanted to find the Avatar, and something inside Zuko had known that even though they weren't friends, the Avatar wouldn't have let anything terrible happen to him. And he was the only lead they had for getting out of this place.

The Avatar's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hei Bai!" he crowed, delighted as he spotted the black and white spirit, and Zuko heard the light rumble that the spirit gave to greet him. "Okay, I'm really confused, but we should get out of here before Koh hears us."

"Who's Koh?" Katara asked, but the Avatar just grabbed her hand and tugged her away from the mouth of the cave and towards the black and white spirit.

"Hey buddy," the boy greeted him happily, and Zuko saw Katara smile as the spirit rumbled merrily back at him. "Wait a minute," he said, and frowned as he turned to Katara. "Did Hei Bai bring you into the Spirit World?" He quickly turned back to the black and white spirit. "Your forest is doing okay, right?"

"I don't think he was the one who brought us here—" Katara began, but Zuko cut her off.

"No," he affirmed, marching up to them. "But he did bring us to you, and we need you to take us back."

"I'd love to—only one problem," the airbender said, his smile fading. "I don't know how to get back either."

That threw Zuko. "What? Haven't you gone to the Spirit World before? How did you get out then?"

"Someone else always took me back." He shrugged his slim shoulders helplessly. "But wait, if Hei Bai didn't bring you here, then how did you guys get into the Spirit World?"

"We're not really sure," Katara supplied helpfully when Zuko didn't answer. "We think maybe a spirit brought us here, but we really don't know."

"Spirit?" The boy's look of confusion turned into one of alarm. "The spirits are in trouble! I almost forgot! I have to find Roku." He whirled around and glanced about, his eyes lighting up once he spotted the small pool of water off to the side of them. He rushed off toward it and Katara followed him, mystified. Zuko trailed after them a second later, curious despite himself.

 _Roku? As in Avatar Roku?_

The airbender stood by the edge of the pool and looked intently down into the still water. Zuko followed his gaze and his eyes widened when he caught sight of his reflection. Instead of the excitable, bald, tattooed monk he expected to see, there appeared an elderly man dressed in the robes of the fire nation, a royal artifact adorning his long silvery white hair. Avatar Roku.

"Roku!" the airbender said. "The spirits are in trouble. My friends and I need to get back to the physical world, but I don't know how to get there."

Zuko quickly glanced at the boy, trying to hide his disbelief at being called his friend. _I know I helped him escape from Zhao, but is he really that stupid?_

"Hei Bai will be able to send you back, Aang," Avatar Roku replied, his voice grave and calm. "But I am afraid your friends must remain."

"What?" the airbender looked up at the two benders and then back at Roku. "Why?"

"Your friends were brought here by the ocean and the moon spirits," Avatar Roku continued, but his eyes had shifted to rest on Zuko. He looked at him with an unreadable look in his eyes and Zuko stared right back. "And their hold over them is too powerful to break." He turned back to Aang. "They cannot go back into the mortal world with you."

"Who are the ocean and the moon spirits?" Zuko demanded, moving closer. "What do they want with us?"

"I do not know, young Prince. But they are in danger, and will not be able to send you back if Aang cannot save them."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Zuko saw the boy shaking his head. "But I can't just leave my friends here."

"I will watch over them," Avatar Roku replied, and he glanced at Zuko again briefly before turning back to the airbender. "They will not come to harm. But you must hurry, Aang, if you wish to help the ancient spirits."

The boy's anxious eyes lifted to Katara's, and Zuko saw her force a smile. "It's okay, Aang. We understand. You should go."

Zuko didn't want to be understanding at all and opened his mouth to argue, only to hear his uncle's voice in the back of his head.

 _You must let him go, Prince Zuko. The spirits are not to be tampered with, and you must let the Avatar do his duty to maintain balance in the world._

With a sigh of frustration, Zuko snapped his mouth shut. _I'll just wait until the boy comes back_ , he thought and glared at the Avatar, who was looking back at him. _And he will. He won't leave his waterbender here, and when he comes and takes us back, I'll get him._

The airbender stared at Zuko for a long moment before nodding, seeming to come to a decision. "I trust you," the boy told him firmly, startling Zuko, and then turned back to Katara, who was staring at them both with an odd look on her face. "I'm sorry, Katara. I have to do this."

Katara seemed confused about the boys' exchange, but nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. "Okay. Be careful. And tell Sokka not to worry."

"I will." He turned back to the pool of water where Roku had been patiently watching. "Thank you, Roku."

"It would be best for your friends not to linger around Koh's lair. Perhaps Hei Bai can take them back to where you all arrived." Zuko watched as the water began to ripple, and the reflection started to fade with it. "Good luck, Aang."

 _Koh's lair?_ Zuko turned and glanced back at the mouth of the cave. He could hear some faint chattering coming from behind the enormous tree, and figured it was the faceless monkey they'd seen earlier. _So this Koh must be the one stealing faces._

"Zuko?" he heard Katara call out to him and turned to find her standing a few feet behind him, waiting for him; the airbender was already sitting on the back of the black and white spirit. She looked over his shoulder at the cave and then up at him. "What's wrong? Let's go."

Zuko's already bad mood darkened even further. He couldn't help being troubled by the girl. First offering to heal him, and then waiting for him; she was starting to act like the airbender.

"Trust me, Zuko," the Avatar called out to him. "You don't want to go in there."

Zuko gritted his teeth, not bothering to respond, and started to walk towards the panda bear spirit, Katara leading the way. He waited, fuming, for Katara to get on the spirit's back, and then pulled himself up behind her. He put his hands on Katara's waist automatically, prepared this time for the panda bear spirit to start moving as soon as he was on. But Zuko was sitting closer to her this time, since there was less room on the bear's back with the Avatar there, so he noticed that she stiffened when he touched her. Zuko removed his hands immediately, and his bad mood vanished in a puff of smoke as his face began to burn red.

 _Stupid. Even if they were enemies, she was still a girl._ He vowed to keep his hands to himself for the rest of the ride.

That proved to be quite difficult when the panda bear spirit began to leap onto the floating rocks that made a path back to the cliff. It was easy for Katara to stay balanced; she simply held onto the airbender as they bounced up and down on the spirit's back, catching herself on Zuko's chest every time she fell back. Zuko on the other hand had to find a way to stay balanced himself while feeling her body bump against him now and again, threatening to send him tumbling off the spirit and down into the abysmal valley that waited for him below.

He stubbornly managed to stay upright for the first few rocks, his arms out slightly to help him balance, and then felt himself falling back when the panda bear spirit leaped for a rock that was somewhat further away than the others. Zuko's heart leaped into his chest as he felt himself fall, and quickly reached for the girl, for anything really, to pull himself back up. One of his hands caught onto something, and he yanked himself up without thinking, barely hearing her cry out in pain. Only when his arms were wrapped securely around her body, hanging on for his life, did he realize in horror that he had grabbed onto the thick braid of brown hair that swung down her back.

"What are you doing?" Katara exclaimed, her voice strained, and it registered with him that his position now was far worse than what he'd done initially by grabbing her waist. He quickly let go of her, only to immediately lose his balance and reach out and grab onto her again.

"Just hold on," she snapped at him, apparently too annoyed to care that his hands were on her waist again. "My hair can't take it if you fall again."

That embarrassed him further, and he opened his mouth to retort, but was saved from exacerbating the situation when the airbender spoke up, apparently having missed the entire episode. "Everything okay back there?"

"Fine," Zuko called out gruffly when Katara didn't reply. "And sorry," he added after a second, trying to push past his embarrassment.

She said nothing, and Zuko tried very hard not to think about the feel of her waist under his hands. He focused on the blur of the trees as the panda bear spirit leaped over the last of the rocks and picked up speed. The smell of the swamp grew stronger as they got closer Zuko ducked behind Katara with a grunt when the wind made his bad eye tear up and in front of him, Katara and the boy started up a conversation.

They talked about the spirit in the cave, who Aang revealed was the one responsible for the monkey's stolen face, and about the ocean and the moon spirits and how they were in trouble. Zuko listened closely, surprised when the topic of bending came up.

"You can't airbend in the Spirit World?" Katara asked, also surprised.

"No. Wait, can you guys?"

"Yeah, Zuko and I can still bend."

"Hey, that's not fair."

 _Capturing him now would be so simple_ , Zuko thought, and then winced when he heard his uncle's chastising voice in the back of his head. _But where would you take him, Prince Zuko?_ he heard his uncle say. _How will you take him back to your father?_

 _No,_ he thought, _it's better to wait until we go back, even if it would be easier to take him now._ He felt Katara shift under his hands, and amended his thoughts; there was still the waterbender to get around. _Okay, maybe not so simple._ He shook his head and turned his attention back to the two in front of him.

"I bet it's because your body is still back in our world," Katara was saying. "I think both of us fell in body and all, so we kept our bending."

"I didn't know you could do that. Roku said the ocean and the moon spirit brought you here, right?"

"Yeah, but we don't know why."

"I wish I could take you guys back with me."

"Me too. I just wish I could go back and help against the Fire Nation siege."

"Don't worry, Katara. Everything will be okay."

It didn't take long for them to reach the wooden landing that Zuko had woken up on that morning. The panda bear spirit slowed as he neared the platform, and Zuko slid off of him quickly, moving away from Katara as soon as he could. He noticed that she avoided looking at him, a faint redness to her cheeks.

"Take care of Sokka," Katara told the airbender as they climbed off of the spirit and into the swamp water. "And don't let him worry."

The airbender nodded, and looked at Zuko. "You saved me from Zhao once, and I haven't forgotten. I'll come back and get you guys as soon as I can. Just stay here and wait for me."

 _He_ is _stupid_ , Zuko thought, but called out to him as the airbender started to turn away.

"Wait."

The boy turned back.

"My uncle is back there," Zuko continued, and ignored Katara's look of surprise. "Would you tell him what happened?"

A smile flashed across the boy's face and he nodded. "I'll tell him not to worry." He ran up to the platform and turned to face the panda bear spirit. "This is where I came in," he said. "But how do I get back?"

Zuko and Katara watched as the panda bear spirit reared back on legs and let his mouth fall open, letting out a beam of blue light. It hit the Avatar's body, and he began to turn transparent, slowly disappearing until there was nothing there at all. The panda bear spirit dropped down to his front legs and turned to face them with a low rumble.

Zuko inclined his head, his hands coming up in the traditional flame like sign as he bowed to the spirit. He hadn't forgotten what he'd said he would do if they'd found the Avatar. "Thank you."

The spirit rumbled again, and began to walk away, his purpose apparently fulfilled. He disappeared through the trees, leaving two teenagers who couldn't bring themselves to look each other in the eyes in the middle of a swamp.

* * *

lol Zuko's such a dork

I originally wrote this chapter in Katara's POV and I hated it so much that I trashed the whole thing and rewrote it all in Zuko's POV. I hope you liked it!

Thank you so much for the reviews!

 **DylPicklezz:** Thanks a bunch! I was feeling pretty meh about the first draft of the chapter I had going and your review really perked me up :)

 **meldz** : Good question! I planned to just keep this going until they returned to the physical world, but I keep getting ideas for scenes after that. Maybe I'll do some one shots showing how they're doing after they get back, but for now the story won't go past Book One.

 **Flutterby Rose** : Thank you :3 I really worried about making Zuko seem kinda OOC in this chapter, but hopefully it's not so bad.

 **Reviews are much appreciated!** (seriously) (pls) (thank)


	5. Four

**Push and Pull**

 _The Loss_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Katara's POV**

Katara had tried hard not to show Aang how disappointed she'd been when Avatar Roku had told them that they couldn't go back to the physical world.

She'd known that Aang knew very little about the Spirit World, and that he'd only crossed over to it twice before they'd come to the North Pole, but somehow she'd let herself hope that he could take them back; she'd thought that if anyone could help them with Spirit World troubles, it was the Avatar. That belief was what had let her put up with Zuko's bad attitude throughout their search with a measure of optimism, even though treating him like a friend was easier said than done. He'd been unpleasant and rude, but his desire to go back to the physical world was enough that he'd cooperated with her. So she'd been more than a little let down to discover that they couldn't go back.

Katara had wanted to act out like Zuko, and demand to know why they were stuck here doing nothing while an invasion was going on back in the physical world. She wanted to protest against Aang going back to the physical world and leaving her here with Zuko, whose temper would surely only get worse as time went on. She wanted Aang to stay here and help them until they could all go back. But at the first mention of spirits being in trouble, she knew she couldn't. It was Aang's duty to maintain the balance between the spirit and the mortal world, and she knew she couldn't stand in the way of that just because she wanted to go home. She couldn't keep him from his duties, or keep the Northern Water Tribe from the Avatar, all because she wanted to help them fight, all because she was worried about Sokka. So she'd swallowed her protests, put on a smile, and told him that it was alright, that she understood. It wasn't the first time she'd had to put aside her own wants and needs for Aang's sake, but she would never resent him for it. She knew it had to be done, and she would do it as long as the Avatar needed her to.

What she really didn't get though, was why Zuko had stopped fighting them. Katara knew firsthand the type of temper he had, and had expected him to explode once he realized that Aang couldn't help them. She'd even expected him to try and capture Aang and stop him from going back, since he had none of the constraints that she had about keeping him here, but Zuko had barely put up a fight. Aang and Zuko's exchange was made even more confusing by Aang's revelation that Zuko had once saved him from Zhao. When had that happened?

"We should turn in for the night," Zuko said gruffly beside her, pulling her out of her thoughts. "The sun already set back in our world. Days and nights don't seem to work the same way here as they do there."

That didn't surprise her; she'd felt the moon beginning to rise while they were on the way back to the swamp, but she'd wondered if she'd just been imagining it, since the sky in the spirit world had shown no sign of darkening. Even now she could feel the moon hanging high in the sky back in the physical world, full and powerful, while the Spirit World looked the same as it had when she'd woken up that morning. "Maybe they don't have a sun or moon spirit here," Katara suggested, and peeked up at him out of the corner of her eyes.

He was standing a few meters away from her, kicking at the water pooled around his legs, making soft splashes in the otherwise quiet swamp. Wisps of fog floated around him as it drifted across the surface of the swamp, blending into the gray of his snowsuit. "Maybe."

Katara had noticed the change from his usual armor into the snowsuit when he'd appeared back at the Spirit Oasis, but hadn't paid much attention to it until now. Looking at him from afar, Katara thought he looked a little smaller, a little less threatening without the metal plates adorning his chest and shoulders. The gray of the snowsuit brought out the pallor of his pale skin, and made the small cuts and bruises on his face stand out.

"Are you sure you don't want me to heal you?" she offered, and wasn't surprised when he looked up at her with a scowl on his face. "Alright, alright."

Zuko turned and began to stomp through the water toward the platform, splashing loudly. "We can look for water and food in the morning," he said without looking at her. "Let's sleep for now."

Katara cleared her throat noisily. "Actually, there was something I wanted to try," she called as he stepped onto the platform, following after him.

Zuko stopped and turned his golden eyes on her as she stepped onto the platform. "What?"

Katara led him further onto the landing before turning and bending a stream of water from the swamp into a small pool on the platform between them. "I was thinking that we might be able to make our own clean water," she explained, pointing down at the pool of water between them. "If you use your firebending to heat up the swamp water enough, I can use my waterbending to gather the steam up as clean water." She'd been pondering the idea since that morning but had hoped that they could leave the swamp before thirst became an issue.

His brow furrowed, and he stared down at the swamp water before nodding. "It should be drinkable, but you'll have to freeze it after so it's cool enough to drink."

"Okay," she said, and shuffled back a little as he held his palms up in front of him, angled down to the pool of water. "Careful not to set the wood on fire. Or me."

He shot her a dirty look and Katara flinched as a controlled but powerful burst of fire shot to life from his hands and licked at the water. A wave of heat flew into her face, whipping her hair and clothes back, but none of the flames came near her. It took only a few seconds before the water stated to bubble and boil under the steady stream of fire, and Katara began to bend the wisps of steam that floated out. She was able to gather a sizable amount of water from the steam before the swamp water pool grew too small and Zuko had to stop his fire.

Katara slowly swirled the handful of water she'd collected between them, scrutinizing it carefully. It was clear in color, thankfully clean of the green-ish tint that the swamp water had. The leftover water pooled at their feet was darker in color, seemingly saturated with whatever they had managed to remove from the clean water.

"I think it worked," she said, and quickly crystalized the water into ice before letting it turn back into liquid. Katara pulled a small stream away from the clean water and guided it into her mouth. It was icy cold as it went down her throat, but it tasted clean and refreshing. "It definitely worked," she told Zuko with a smile, and moved the rest of the water towards his mouth.

He stared as it neared him and glanced at Katara in disbelief.

"What?"

A muscle jumped in his jaw, but he just shook his head, dutifully opening his mouth to swallow it. She held back a smile at his expression as he tasted the icy water, and he glanced up at her, unimpressed.

Katara shrugged innocently. "It was your idea to cool it down."

"At least we won't die of thirst," Zuko muttered as she bended the leftover water on the platform back into the swamp. "I'll keep watch for a few hours while you sleep." He moved across the landing to the other side, putting a small distance between them. "We'll look for food in the morning."

"I don't think we need to keep watch," Katara said as she pulled the water from her wet clothes and shoes and sent it flowing back into the swamp. She knew better than to offer to do the same to Zuko. "We'll be sleeping in daylight, and Avatar Roku said he wouldn't let anything happen to us."

Zuko didn't reply, and obstinately lowered himself to the ground, crossing his legs under him. He sat with his back to her, looking out over the swamp and into the trees.

"You were the one who wanted to sleep," she reminded him, and then sighed. "Fine. Wake me up when you want to trade off."

He didn't reply, and Katara settled down onto the platform and curled up on her side, keeping her back to him. She closed her eyes against the light of the sky, shuffling to get comfortable against the hard wooden ground.

She was used to sleeping outside and camping out on the ground with Aang and Sokka, but found that the ground was pretty unbearable without the company of her brother and friends. Katara suddenly felt an ache in her chest at the thought of her brother and friends. She couldn't help wishing that Sokka was here with her too, away from the Fire Nation siege and safe by her side. She couldn't help remembering how Sokka had volunteered for some sort of dangerous mission to infiltrate the Fire Nation troops, and she wondered if it had already taken place, if Sokka had gone with them, if Sokka had come back.

 _Aang won't let anything happen to Sokka, she told herself fiercely, hugging herself closer._ _Even if he has to go and save some spirits, he'll still protect Sokka. She winced._ _But who would protect Aang?_

Katara shook her head and forced herself to think about something else, anything else that wouldn't drive her insane with worry. She focused on the quiet of the swamp, calm and soothing without the tittering of the birds, which she thought were probably sleeping too. She felt a light breeze on her skin, and soaked up the sunlight that fell on her cheeks. She listened to the gentle swaying of the water around her, lulling and inviting her to a peaceful sleep. It was sweet, and silent, and restful.

Katara felt utterly alone.

 _Well, I'm not completely alone_ , she amended, thinking of Zuko sitting somewhere behind her, stubbornly keeping watch for spirits out to harm them. She could picture him in his gray snowsuit, probably burning up in the warm climate of the Spirit World, marked with those cuts and bruises on his face that he refused to let her heal. The thought of him now was so different from the picture of him she usually carried in her head: an angry firebender sheathed in the menacing red and black armor of the Fire Nation, surrounded by the soldiers from his metal ship.

She was troubled at how easily she could think to sleep while having him at her back now, when they'd been fighting each other just yesterday. Katara remembered the despair she'd felt the moment she'd heard his voice back in the Spirit Oasis, the anger and dismay that always overwhelmed her whenever he found them. She thought about his mocking words, the heat of his fire as he sent a barrage of flames at her, and the desperation with which he always tried to capture the Avatar. She remembered the burning determination she'd felt when she'd tried to protect Aang, and the triumph she'd felt when she had held her own against him. Katara thought about all these things with her enemy at her back, and before she knew it, she was dreaming.

* * *

 _She was back at the Spirit Oasis, standing in the waters of the Spirit Pond, her body and limbs light and weightless. She couldn't feel the lapping of the water around her knees, or the warmth of the air on her skin as she gazed up at the airbender meditating at the edge of the pond._

This feels different, _Katara thought._ Dreaming doesn't feel like this.

 _Aang was sitting cross-legged on the grass, his hands pulled together as he meditated. His eyes and tattoos were glowing a burning blue, signifying his passage into the Spirit World, but Katara thought he seemed to be looking right at her. Katara moved to reach out to him before hearing the crackle of ice forming somewhere off to her left._

 _Katara turned her head and watched in amazement as she saw a figure dressed in the blue dress of the Southern Water Tribe facing off against a figure in gray, an angry looking scar marking his left eye._

That's me! _Katara thought, and watched as the girl pulled water from the Spirit Pond to spin an enormous sphere around the boy with the scar, encasing him in a frozen prison._ I'm fighting Zuko.

 _The boy looked at the girl with blazing golden eyes, and spoke through the icy wall harshly. "You little peasant," he said, and the frozen ball of ice began to turn a startling red. "You've found a master, haven't you?"_

 _Katara jerked back as the enormous sphere suddenly shattered, sending fragments of ice scattering throughout the Oasis. The boy emerged from the sphere in a firebending stance, sending a burst of fire toward the girl before Katara could blink. The girl pulled a wave of water up in front of her to block it, and dodged another burst that he sent her way. She sent stream after stream of water to knock the boy off of his path, but the boy sidestepped them easily, advancing on the girl. He sent a volley of fire blasts at the girl, and managed to circumvent her to reach Aang when she moved to deflect them._

 _The boy's fingers had just brushed Aang's collar before Katara felt a sudden, devastating tug in the pit of her stomach. She gasped as the tug in her stomach swiftly pulled her body forward, dragging it towards the body of the girl. They collided with a crash and Katara felt the weight return to her limbs, almost falling to her knees at the sudden heaviness of her body. Her senses came back to her in a rush and she could suddenly feel the warmth of the air on her skin, and the chill of the water on her wet clothes._

 _Katara opened her eyes in shock just as the boy caught hold of Aang's collar. Every thought in her head disappeared as the instinct to protect took over, and with a cry, Katara raised her arms to send a blast of water at the boy._

 _The boy flinched in front of her, but watched with wide eyes as the water refused to move under her flying hands, laying still on the grass in front of her. Katara inhaled sharply in surprise and moved her body once again, willing the water to lift and flow towards the boy. When the water remained still, she sucked in a shocked breath._

I can't bend _, she thought and lifted her horror-struck eyes to the boy, who had grasped the Avatar's motionless body in his hands. Katara could only watch as the boy pulled Aang across his back, the fire of victory lighting up his golden eyes. He raised a fist and punched a blast of fire towards her, and she felt the heat of the air strike her skin before her body was enveloped in flames._

* * *

Katara woke up with a gasp. Through the quiet of the swamp, she heard the rush of blood in her ears, and the pounding of her heart.

 _No,_ she thought. _It can't be._

Behind her, Zuko jumped up at the sound, but she barely noticed him as she scrambled to her feet and ran to the edge of the platform.

"Katara?"

She ignored him and stumbled to a stop at the edge of the landing, raising her arms in front of her. Part of her knew she'd only been dreaming, but the rest of her panicked. The rest of her _knew._ She shifted her weight into a simple waterbending stance and moved to pull the water up into a wave.

Nothing happened.

She heard Zuko come up behind her, and gritted her teeth, fighting the burning in her eyes. She lifted her arms, and willed the water to rise, to ripple, to move, _anything._

Nothing.

"No," she said through her teeth, and jumped into the water, her splash crashing through the quiet of the swamp. She twisted arms over her body and pulled at the water with every form she could think of, growing more and more desperate with every one that failed. Katara searched for the power of the moon in her body, the draw of the water, the singing in her blood. Instead, she found an emptiness that made her feel hollow and sick.

"Katara!" she heard him yell behind her, and she shuddered at the sound of his voice. He was the boy from her dream, the one who burned her and stole Aang. "What happened?"

Katara fell to her knees in the water, unable to hold herself up any longer. "My bending," she said. "It's gone."

* * *

Can I get a 'dramatic much?' wut wut

 **So I have a question: I rated this story T because I was paranoid about rating it wrong and then scarring some poor kid for life or whatever, but I'm wondering if I can lower it to maybe a K+. What do you think?**

(fun fact: the reason Zuko is so set on keeping watch is because he wonders if Koh will randomly show up and steal their faces)

So many thanks to the people who reviewed (SO many) because I had set a goal to have this up two days go and then was feeling pretty shitty because I didn't meet that goal, and your reviews saved me from a downward spiral. Seriously.

 **Avatar Roxas** : your reviews always make me smile :) thank you! btw when I was trying to write this chapter, I actually wrote Avatar Roxas once instead of Avatar Roku, can you believe it? I think it was right after I saw your review, haha. I need to sleep more lol

 **DylPicklezz:** I think Zuko's super cute too :P I wish I could make him more embarrassed and stuff just because I like it, but he doesn't seem like the type haha. I hope you like this chapter!

 **Flutterby Rose:** thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much :3 I think Zuko is pretty hard too! Sometimes, I have to imagine Dante Basco saying what I wrote in Zuko's voice before I can be like, 'yes, okay, this works, thank god.'

 **Guest who thought the beginning of the story was a little scary:** I'm so sorry for not responding to you earlier! Thank you for your review :) The beginning is kind of creepy now that I think about it... o.0

 **Guest who enjoyed monkey sage's appearance:** You seem like the type of person who would understand my sense of humor! Haha, thank you so much for the feedback! It's a huge help to know I'm on the right track with these two characters :)

 **Reviews are much appreciated!** (and make me very happy :P )


	6. Five

**Push and Pull**

 _First Night_

 _Disclaimer: I own literally nothing._

* * *

 **Katara's POV**

It seemed utterly wrong that everything should be happening in daylight. It had been nighttime in her dream, and it was nighttime back in the physical world, but Katara was on her knees in the Spirit World, and there was light all around her. Somehow that made it so much worse.

 _Nothing worked. I can't waterbend._

Katara put her hands on her thighs and squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to catch her breath. She could feel the warmth of the light that broke through the cover of clouds above her, and the coolness of the air against her wet skin and clothes. Her knees sunk into the mud at the bottom of the swamp, and the water pooled around her waist, rippling lightly with every heaving breath she took. The swamp was silent other than the sound of her breathing.

She didn't know why she was so exhausted when all she'd done in her panic were a few waterbending stances. Even with as little sleep and food as she'd had, she knew that she could handle much worse and not feel as bad as she did now. But she felt unusually lightheaded, and there was a hollow in the pit of her stomach that made her feel sick. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, and all she could hear was the rush of blood through her head.

"What do you mean your bending is gone?" Zuko's voice broke through the dizzying cloud that threatened to overwhelm her. She heard him step into the water beside her, and her eyes flew open as she fought the urge to flinch away.

Katara struggled to push the image of the firebending boy in her dream out of her mind. She could picture him clearly at the forefront of her mind, his angry face dotted with dry red wounds, and his golden eyes filled with a fire that threatened to burn her. She remembered the helplessness she'd felt coursing through her veins in that moment of weakness, and the feel of his fire licking at her skin.

She hadn't been able to save Aang. _I lost him._

Katara gritted her teeth at the thought, and shakily pushed herself up to her feet. Her legs trembled and her waterlogged clothes dragged heavily against her skin, but she made herself stand.

She would not give up. She couldn't.

"Katara?"

"Give me a minute," she told him quietly, and inhaled deeply. Katara shifted into a basic waterbending stance, keeping her movements precise, slow and controlled. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Zuko crossing his arms over his chest with a noise of frustration, but he stayed clear of her moving body as she went through the motions. Somehow she knew he wouldn't interrupt her.

For a long time, Katara didn't think about anything other than her waterbending. It took longer for her to finish her forms this time; she'd only tried a few panicked stances in her initial attempt to waterbend, and this time she was careful not to miss any. Katara worked through every movement Master Pakku had taught her, any forms that she'd seen on the stolen waterbending scroll, and any tricks that she'd come up with when she'd been teaching herself to bend back in the South Pole. When she'd finished, her arms were burning from exhaustion, and her throat was aching from her effort to hold back her frustrated tears.

 _Nothing works._

"Will you tell me what's going on?" Zuko asked, turning to her as she stumbled back to sit heavily on the edge of the wooden platform. He'd stayed silent and unmoving as she'd tried to bend, and she'd had to work to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her.

Katara tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. "I can't waterbend."

"I can see that." He gestured impatiently to where she'd been going through her stances. "But why not?"

"I don't know."

"Did something happen before you lost it?" he demanded, and stepped closer to her. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I was." Katara stared down at the ripples he'd created on the swamp water as she told him about her dream. They crashed into her knees and swirled around her legs before flowing past her and fading away. "I was dreaming about us fighting at the Spirit Oasis. I was just watching us fight at first, from the outside. Like it was some kind of play and I was in the audience. But then in the middle of it—" Katara hesitated. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened herself. "I felt this... pull in the pit of my stomach and then I wasn't watching anymore, but actually fighting you again, except that time I couldn't bend. And then I woke up." She hardly knew that she was crying until the wetness in her eyes spilled over and crashed down into the water, sending it rippling.

Katara closed her eyes. The last waterbender in the entire Southern Water Tribe, and her bending was gone. She'd struggled to teach herself what little she could of the art back in the South Pole, had fought against an unwilling master in the North Pole , and had finally— _finally_ —managed to learn how to waterbend, only for it to be taken away. How could this have happened?

"So you lost your bending because of a dream?" Zuko asked in disbelief when she'd finished speaking, but Katara noticed that his voice was softer, a little less harsh.

"No." Her voice cracked. "Maybe. I don't know." Katara exhaled in a rush and wiped her tears. "When I woke up, I just knew I couldn't bend."

He was silent for a moment as she collected herself. "Didn't the Avatar say he couldn't bend when he was in the Spirit World?"

Katara's head snapped up, her mind racing. _I can't believe I forgot._ Aang had been surprised that she and Zuko could still bend their elements when he couldn't. Maybe _I was wrong about the body theory, and it doesn't matter whether you cross over with it or without it. Maybe you lose your bending no matter what._ Then she frowned. "But I could waterbend a few hours ago."

"And I can still firebend," Zuko added, uncrossing his arms. A small burst of flame erupted from the palm of his hand, fiery and hot.

Katara couldn't help her reaction. She shot to her feet and lurched away from him without thinking, splashing through the swamp water. Her knees almost buckled under her from exhaustion but her horror was enough to keep her upright. Her dream came back to her in a rush, and Katara couldn't help seeing Zuko as the boy who'd burned her and taken Aang. _Firebender._

Zuko extinguished the fire in his hand and his eyes flickered briefly to her legs before coming back to rest on her face. He looked at her quizzically with the blazing golden eyes that were so familiar to her. The eyes of the enemy. "What?"

Katara turned away, locking her knees under her. "Nothing."

She'd been wrong to be so nice to him before, no matter how much of a good idea it'd seemed at the time. What had she been thinking? He might seem like an ordinary teenage boy with his occasional awkwardness and the gray suit that was so unlike his usual armor, but he wasn't a normal boy. She couldn't let herself forget again: he was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and he'd do anything to capture Aang. She had no doubt that if she'd really lost her bending back at the Spirit Oasis like in her dream, he would've burned her and taken Aang without a second thought.

"Anyway," Zuko continued from behind her, his attention back on her problem. "I don't see what else it could be unless something happened to the moon back in the physical world."

That startled her, shocking her out of her unhappy thoughts. Hadn't Aang said that the spirits were in trouble? Had he been too late?

"Either way, there's not much we can do about it," Zuko went on. "We'd better wait until the Avatar comes back and gets us out of here."

Katara scowled, her face stiff from dried tears, and turned back to face him. The weariness in her body wasn't getting any easier to handle, but her anger was making it easy to ignore. "Why do you call him that? His name is Aang, and don't pretend like you don't know it, because you obviously know mine."

This time he was the one who turned away, leaving her to stare at the tension in his neck and shoulders. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"You're scared to call him by his name, aren't you?" Katara probed, stepping closer with her trembling legs, feeling a grim sort of satisfaction at the sight of him. "Because then you'll have to start thinking of him as a human being instead of as some prize that you can take home."

He whirled back on her angrily, his molten eyes scorching even from a few feet away. His hands were clenched into fists by his sides. "Shut up."

"Oh, no, that's right," she continued nastily. "You're the Fire Lord's son. Why would that bother you? Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't?" Katara repeated incredulously,and unthinkingly reached up to touch her mother's necklace laying at her throat. "You have no idea what the Fire Nation has done to the world. Do you have _any_ idea what it's like for the people who have to live with this war?"

Zuko looked taken aback for an instant before rage distorted his features. "You're not the only ones fighting in the war," he spat, and stepped closer until Katara could feel the angry heat radiating off of his skin. She forced herself not to step back when he shoved his face down in front of hers. "Who do you think your people are fighting against? Fire nation soldiers have to live with this war too."

It was Katara's turn to be taken aback, though she recovered quickly. "And whose fault is that?" she hissed back at him.

Zuko glared down at her for a second before he leaned back and turned away from her. "I wouldn't expect a peasant like you to understand," he said, walking a few feet away, keeping his back to her. "The Fire Nation was trying to share its greatness with the rest of the world."

"Greatness? Is that what you call it?" she seethed. Katara could hardly believe what she was hearing. She felt a sudden rush of energy course through her body, but hardly noticed in her distress. "Why don't you try asking the men who are off fighting in this war what they think of your greatness? Or the people they have to leave behind?" Katara clamped her mouth shut with a click and gritted her teeth as her eyes welled up with tears. She was crying again.

Zuko glanced back over his shoulder at her, just as a low shout rang through the swamp and reached their ears. Katara spun around, stumbling on her feet, and stared out through the trees behind her. She couldn't see anyone.

"What in the—" Katara wiped her eyes and glanced back at Zuko, shocked. "That sounded... human."

Zuko was staring into the trees with an odd look on his face, his eyebrows furrowed. When another yell came through the trees again, his eyes widened and he started to move forward. "Stay here," he barked out to Katara as he ran past her, splashing water onto her clothes.

For an instant, Katara was frozen in surprise, but then she was chasing after him, following the sound through the trees. Katara was far slower than he was and was already falling behind as she struggled to lift her heavy legs. Part of her mourned the loss of her bending, knowing that they would be able to get there faster if she could just bend them through the water. They had barely gone past the first tree before Zuko came to a stop.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as he caught sight of her. "I told you to stay behind."

Katara glowered at him, her knees nearly buckling under her as she stopped. "I'm not going to stay here and do nothing when someone's in trouble."

He opened his mouth to say something and then appeared to think better of it. Instead he said, "You can't even bend."

Katara put her hands on her hips. It wasn't fair. Why did he still have his bending when she didn't? "So I'm useless without my bending, is that it?" He made a frustrated noise and opened his mouth, but Katara cut him off. "We're wasting time. Let's go."

She moved to resolutely march past him, but her legs shook and she stumbled. Zuko grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "You're going to slow me down."

Katara pulled her arm away. "I won't fall behind."

"You can barely stand." He glared.

He was right, but she didn't care. "I'm standing just fine!"

"Fine," he snapped. "Come. Though I don't know what good you think you can do."

He was such a jerk. Katara stomped her foot in frustration and almost burst into tears when the water around her foot suddenly burst nearly ten feet into the air, falling down in a heavy rain to soak them both. Zuko stepped back in surprise but Katara was too preoccupied to notice.

Her bending was back! Thank the spirits, her bending was back. Katara raised her heavy arms and moved to pull the water out of both of their clothes, becoming almost giddy with relief when the water responded and drifted out of fabric. She whirled the water around in between them, cherishing the push and pull of the water and the power of the moon in her body. Her arms burned with the effort, but she couldn't make herself stop waterbending, not after losing it for so long.

There was a moment of silence and then Katara heard Zuko's sharp exhale of breath. "You're still going to slow me down."

Katara couldn't help the wicked smile that stole across her face, and enjoyed the startled look on Zuko's face. "No, I'm not," she said and led the water down to swirl around in front of her feet. With a quick move, she froze it into a thick square of ice and stepped onto it.

"Don't fall behind," she told him, and stifled a laugh at his indignant look. Katara pushed at the water with her arms and the ice shot through the water, leading her to whoever was beyond the trees.

* * *

I'm so late with this chapter and I don't even know what to say because I wrote four other full versions before settling on this one and I still hate it xP bleh. not much happens in this one.

Did anyone figure out the exact moment Katara got her bending back? Or who the scream belonged too? Or which lines I directly quoted from the ATLA series? (hint: they're from Book 2)

 **Can't guarantee anything about how often I'm going to update, since I have work and school coming up soon, but thank you all for your patience and kind reviews!**

 **Avatar Roxas** : lol I took a break and then got writer's block for a week, so basically I should never take a break again. But the extra sleep was nice :) I'm so glad you liked the last chapter!

 **Flutterby Rose** : Haha, you got it! It's the moon spirit but you'll see next chapter why she's so lethargic and stuff. It's easier for me to hear Katara's voice more than Zuko's for some reason... if only I was lucky enough to hear him like you do lol. I definitely do want to nudge Zuko into his Book 3 self eventually, but for now I'm proceeding with caution :P

 **DylPicklezz** : It makes me unexplicably happy that you can imagine the story playing out! Honestly, that's such a relief, since I usually suck at that kind of stuff. Im so glad you think I'm doing Katara's character justice :3 And thanks for replying to my quesrion, I think I will change the rating on this story :P

 **Guest:** Stay tuned! And you're right, but not exactly haha. Amazing guesses though!

 **Reviews are much appreciated!**


End file.
